Editing Doc Pomus (section)

==Career==

=== Performing career ===
Using the [[stage name]] Doc Pomus, the teenage Felder began performing as a blues singer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Light |first=Alan |date=March 25, 2007 |title=This Magic Moment |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/books/review/Light.t.html?searchResultPosition=3 |work=New York Times}}</ref> His stage name was not inspired by anyone in particular; he just thought it sounded better for a blues singer than Jerry Felder, though it included a “nod” to blues singer [[Doctor Clayton]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 24, 2013 |title=The Life Of Doc Pomus, Songwriter To The Stars |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/10/24/240487765/the-life-of-doc-pomus-songwriter-to-the-stars |website=NPR.org}}</ref> He began going to Jazz clubs before working up the nerve to perform in front of mostly black audiences, doing his version of popular blues songs that were received with great enthusiasm by club patrons.<ref name=":0" /> The 18 year old Pomus debuted at George's Tavern in [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Jerome "Doc" Pomus {{!}} Songwriters Hall of Fame |url=https://www.songhall.org/profile/Jerome_Doc_Pomus |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=www.songhall.org}}</ref> Clubs would invite him to perform, and on one occasion the great saxophonist [[Lester Young]] sat in with him.<ref name=":8" /> 

Pomus stated that more often than not, he was the only Caucasian in the clubs, but that as a Jew with polio, he felt a special underdog kinship with African Americans, while in turn the audiences respected his courage and were impressed by his talent. Pomus performed as a singer for 10-12 years around metropolitan New York (1944-1954), heading a band that included [[Mickey Baker]] and [[King Curtis]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" /> Gigging at clubs in and around New York City, Pomus often performed with [[Milt Jackson]], [[Horace Silver]], [[Buddy Tate]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Till the Night Is Gone: Tribute to Doc Pomus |url=https://www.wantitall.co.za/Till-the-Night-Is-Gone-Tribute-to-Doc-Pomus-ap-B0000033GU.html |website=wantitall.co.za}}</ref>  Baker, and Curtis. Pomus is reported to have recorded more than fifty record sides of music,<ref name=":4" /> though others have reported the number at about forty sides,{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} as a singer in the 1940s and 1950s for [[Chess Records|Chess]],<ref name=":1" /> [[Apollo Records (1944)|Apollo]], [[Dawn Records (American label)|Dawn]], [[Gotham Records|Gotham]], and other recording companies (such as [[Savoy Records|Savoy]], [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]] and [[Coral Records|Coral]]<ref name=":1" />).  

In his early thirties, Pomus’ song “Heartlessly” was being played by disc jockey [[Alan Freed]]. Once the company with rights to the song learned about Pomus’ life and circumstances, they had no interest in promoting his singing career, and he realized he would need another way to make a living.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-24 |title=The Life Of Doc Pomus, Songwriter To The Stars |url=https://www.wbur.org/npr/240487765/the-life-of-doc-pomus-songwriter-to-the-stars |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=www.npr.org |language=en}}</ref> He stopped performing live in 1957.<ref name=":8" /> 

=== Songwriter ===
In 1946, [[Gatemouth Moore]] had recorded one of Pomus' own songs for [[National Records]]. In 1947, he became one of Atlantic Records original songwriters.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> In the early 1950s, Pomus began writing magazine articles,{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} as well as songwriting for [[LaVern Baker|Lavern Baker]], [[Ruth Brown]], [[Ray Charles]], and [[Big Joe Turner]] (whose music had changed Pomus' life). Charles’ 1956 recording of the [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] top ten song "[[Lonely Avenue]]" marked a national breakthrough for Pomus, though he made little money.<ref name="Times Obit" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman |url=https://www.history-of-rock.com/doc_pomus_and_mort_shulman.htm |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=www.history-of-rock.com}}</ref>  

In 1957, he married an aspiring Broadway actress from [[Westville, Illinois]], named Willi Burke.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Charles |date=January 31, 2022 |title=Save the Last Dance for Me — a poignant story lies behind this 1960 hit |url=https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/save-the-last-dance-for-me.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=Financial Times |language=en-GB}}</ref> (She later performed in the Broadway play ''Fiorello''.<ref name=":4" />) They were divorced in 1966.<ref name=":5" /> 

His first rock and roll songwriting break came when the [[The Coasters|Coasters]] recorded a hit with the song "[[Young Blood (The Coasters song)|Young Blood]]".<ref name="Times Obit" /> He had sent a demo of the song to [[Jerry Leiber]] and [[Mike Stoller]], his role models for this new kind of songwriting. They substantially rewrote the song for the Coasters, and Pomus only first heard about its being recorded by playing it on a jukebox.<ref name=":8" />  Still, Pomus had co-credit as lyricist, and soon received a royalty check for $2,500{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|2500|1957}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) (reported elsewhere as $1,500<ref name=":8" />), an event that convinced him that songwriting was a career worth pursuing. By 1957, Pomus had given up performing<ref name=":8" /> in favor of songwriting.

Pomus collaborated with pianist [[Mort Shuman]], whom he met when Shuman was dating Pomus's younger cousin.<ref name=":6" /> Songwriter [[Otis Blackwell]] introduced the duo to [[Hill & Range]] Music Co./Rumbalero Music at its offices in New York City's [[Brill Building]].<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":6" /> Pomus asked Shuman to write with him because Pomus did not know much about contemporary rock and roll, whereas Shuman was acquainted with popular artists of the day. For the most part, Pomus wrote the lyrics while Shuman composed the [[melody|melodies]], but they often collaborated on both aspects of their songs. Together they wrote "[[A Teenager in Love]]", "[[Save the Last Dance for Me]]", "[[Hushabye]]", "[[This Magic Moment]]", "[[Turn Me Loose (Doc Pomus song)|Turn Me Loose]]", "[[Sweets For My Sweet]]" (a hit for [[The Drifters]], and later [[The Searchers (band)|The Searchers]]), "[[Go, Jimmy, Go]]", "[[Little Sister (Pomus/Shuman song)|Little Sister]]", "[[Can't Get Used to Losing You]]", "[[Suspicion (Terry Stafford song)|Suspicion]]", "[[Surrender (Elvis Presley song)|Surrender]]", and "[[(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame|(Marie's the Name of) His Latest Flame]]".<ref name="Times Obit" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Palmer |first=Robert |date=July 25, 1986 |title=DOC POMUS STILL WRITES, ROCKS AND RAMBLES |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/25/arts/pop-jazz-doc-pomus-still-writes-rocks-and-rambles.html |work=New York Times}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> They wrote regularly for [[Elvis Presley]] and [[The Drifters]], and wrote hits for others, such as [[Bobby Darin]], [[Dion and the Belmonts]], and [[Fabian Forte|Fabian]].<ref name="Times Obit" /> Pomus' innovation in writing his early rock song lyrics was focusing on the realities and difficulties of being a teenager, rather than trying to paint an idealized teenage life.<ref name=":8" /> 

"Save the Last Dance for Me" has been called his crowning achievement. The lyrics came to him at his wedding, watching his wife dance with others, Pomus being unable to dance because of polio's effects on his body.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> The song has been performed by singers as diverse as country singer [[Eric Church]] and jazz guitarist [[Bill Frisell]], and it was a top ten country hit for both [[Dolly Parton]] and [[Emmylou Harris]].<ref name=":8" /> It is said to be the last song [[Leonard Cohen]] ever performed on stage.<ref name=":5" />

[[Phil Spector]] became a protege of Pomus.<ref name=":0" /> During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pomus wrote several songs with Spector ("Young Boy Blues", "Ecstasy", "First Taste of Love" and "What Am I To Do?"), Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber ("Young Blood" and "[[She's Not You]]"), and other Brill Building-era writers.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.history-of-rock.com/doc_pomus_and_mort_shulman.htm
|title=Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman
|website=History-of-rock
|access-date=2007-06-30
}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

=== Later life ===
With the advent of [[the Beatles]], the days of the Brill Building type songwriter-for-hire in rock and roll were numbered. While he continued writing and had sporadic success, Pomus' main means of income for years was as a professional gambler, which he left after ten years as it was becoming too violent a world. Late in his life, his income increased from royalty payments when more performers started covering his songs.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7" /> 

In the 1970s and 1980s, in his eleventh-floor, two-room apartment at the Westover Hotel at 253 West 72nd Street, Pomus wrote songs with [[Dr. John]], [[Ken Hirsch (composer)|Ken Hirsch]], and [[Willy DeVille]] for what he said were "... those people stumbling around in the night out there, uncertain or not always so certain of exactly where they fit in and where they were headed."{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} These later songs ("There Must Be A Better World", "There Is Always One More Time", "That World Outside", "You Just Keep Holding On", and "Something Beautiful Dying")—recorded by [[Willy DeVille]], [[B.B. King]], [[Irma Thomas]], [[Marianne Faithfull]], [[Charlie Rich]], [[Ruth Brown]], [[Dr. John]] (Mac Rebennack), [[James Booker]], [[Jimmy Witherspoon]], and [[Johnny Adams]]—are considered by some, including writer [[Peter Guralnick]], musician and songwriter Dr. John, and producer [[Joel Dorn]], to be signatures of Pomus's best craft. B. B King's recording of "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere" won a [[Grammy Awards|Grammy]] in 1981. Pomus also played an important role with [[John Belushi]] in creating the back-up band for the [[The Blues Brothers|Blues Brothers]] in the 1970s, and was [[Bette Midler]]'s musical advisor, bringing her to national attention.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name="Times Obit" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":8" />

Pomus also focused in later life on helping forgotten R&B artists who had fallen on hard times.<ref name=":1" /> The [[Rhythm and Blues Foundation]] provides artist grants through The Doc Pomus Artist Assistance Fund.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rhythm and Blues Foundation |url=https://www.nmaam.org/rhythm-and-blues-foundation |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=www.nmaam.org}}</ref>

=== Influence on other performers ===
[[John Lennon]] told Pomus the first song the Beatles practiced together was a Pomus song. [[Bob Dylan]] came to Pomus when Dylan was experiencing writer's block. Later in Pomus' life, performers as diverse as [[Bruce Springsteen]] and Dolly Parton covered his songs, and others like Dr. John and [[Lou Reed]] became a part of his life.<ref name=":0" /> In July 1985, [[Ben E. King]] (the original singer of Save The Last Dance for Me), Dr. John, DeVille, and [[Marshall Crenshaw]] performed in a tribute program to Pomus in New York.<ref name=":6" /> After his death, a tribute album was produced in 1995, "Till the Night Is Gone: A Tribute to Doc Pomus", that included Dylan, King, Rebennack, Reed, Thomas, [[John Hiatt]], [[Shawn Colvin]],[[Solomon Burke]], and [[Los Lobos]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Piazza |first=Tom |date=July 2, 1995 |title=Doc Pomus, a Poet in Song |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/02/arts/recordings-view-doc-pomus-a-poet-in-song.html |work=New York Times}}</ref>

The documentary film ''A.K.A. Doc Pomus'' (2012), conceived by Pomus's daughter Sharyn Felder, directed by filmmaker [[Peter Miller (filmmaker)|Peter Miller]], edited by Amy Linton, and produced by Felder, Hechter, and Miller, presents Pomus's biography.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Myers |first=Marc |date=October 3, 2013 |title=Doc Pomus: From Pain, Magic Moments |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/doc-pomus-from-pain-magic-moments-1380827630 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref>